Manipur police rescued 4 non-locals who had been abducted at gunpoint by a group of unidentified persons from a place near Phaknung village in Imphal east district on Tuesday night.

Of the 4 abducted labourers, 3 are from Bihar and 1 from Uttar Pradesh. They were abducted by the gunmen while they were unloading pipes from a truck at a warehouse located in Phaknung village, the police said. The armed persons came there in an Eeco van (silver colour) pushed them into the vehicle at around 4 p.m. and carried them away in the direction of Moirangkampu of the same district.

On receiving the report, a joint team of the Imphal West and Imphal East district police launched a massive rescue operation at Nongmaiching hills and surrounding areas starting from around 7 p.m. However, the abducted workers were finally rescued from a place near the Imphal East district police station at around 10:30 p.m. on Monday.

The abducted labourers have been identified as Pramod Prajapati (35), Kishore Rai (36) and Umesh Rai, 34 all from Bihar and  Rajkumar 42 from Uttar Pradesh, the police added.